This book is weird. Fun, but weird.
It's pretty famous, and a lot of people know the basic plot, but I'll recap it here anyway: Willy Wonka, candy maker extraordinaire, has put five Golden Tickets into random chocolate bars somewhere in the world. The recipients will be invited to his mysterious factory, which nobody has been inside for years. Four of the Golden Tickets go to kids who are some flavor of bad, and the fifth goes to none other than our protagonist Charlie Bucket. The bad kids meet with their comeuppances, and Charlie Bucket |inherits the factory|.
Reading it this time, I was struck by how the Oompa-Loompas are basically a Greek chorus. I mean, think about it. They're this group of people, who are in the story but not a big part of it, who follow the main characters around, and who explain the point to the audience by singing about it. Like I said, they're basically a Greek chorus.
(It also helps that their songs are well-written and actually quite funny.)
Really, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a much deeper book than people give it credit for. It's just also very silly, and not a lot of people see through that.
This review is part of my first completed quest. In fact, it's the final part of my first completed quest. I've been on this one since September 21, 2023, and finally completed it today, May 19, 2026. (Well, I wrote this review on April 24, but I published it on May 19, so that's the date I'm counting from.)
...now I have to go back and change everything that said "my ongoing quest" to say "my completed quest" instead. Agh. That's going to be a bit of a chore. I think I'll put that off for a bit.
Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: E, probably.
4 stars.
Favorite lines:
They streaked past a black door. STOREROOM NUMBER 71, it said on it. WHIPS--ALL SHAPES AND SIZES.
"Whips!" cried Veruca Salt. "What on earth do you use whips for?"
"For whipping cream, of course," said Mr. Wonka. "How can you whip cream without whips? Whipped cream isn't whipped cream at all unless it's been whipped with whips. Just as a poached egg isn't a poached egg unless it's been stolen from the woods in the dead of night!"
Page 86. This is probably one of my favorite exchanges in all of fiction.
(Endnote: It's a pity the sequel had to jump the shark so hard.)
Not only are the Oompa Loompas a Greek Chorus, but I've heard more than once that the whole trip through the factory has parallels to whatshisname's trip through the Underworld in Greek Mythology. Something like this, yes.
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